AUSTIN – This month, Texans are encouraged to participate in Side-By-Side Texas, a social media campaign to raise awareness about the importance of community inclusion of people of all abilities.

March is Developmental Disabilities (DD) Awareness Month. Throughout the month, Side-By-Side Texas, will showcase people with and without disabilities from all corners of the state making contributions to their communities, participating in meaningful employment, and having fun together – side-by-side.

All Texans are encouraged to participate in Side-By-Side Texas. To get involved, people can simply post a photo or video on their favorite social media platform of people with and without disabilities engaging in a community activity side-by-side. Make sure to use the hashtag #SideBySideTX when publishing your post.

When people post a photo or video on social media, they’ll be raising awareness within their social networks about the importance of inclusion of people of all abilities. People who participate may also inspire others to get involved.

Anyone can participate in Side-By-Side Texas. A business that employs people with disabilities could post a photo of their entire team working side-by-side together on the job. A teacher can let their social media savvy students know about the campaign so they can post photos and videos of students with and without disabilities having fun together.

And the campaign isn’t just for large groups – two people can post a photo of something simple like hanging out at a coffee shop; side-by-side selfies are welcome.

Side-By-Side Texas is organized by the Center on Disability and Development at Texas A&M University, Disability Rights Texas, the Texas Center for Disability Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, and the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities. Side-By-Side is a campaign conducted nationally by the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, and the National Disability Rights Network.

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Disability Rights Texas (previously named Advocacy, Inc.) is the federally designated legal protection and advocacy agency (P&A) for people with disabilities in Texas. Our mission is to help people with disabilities understand and exercise their rights under the law, ensuring their full and equal participation in society.